“I will teach you by the hand of God: that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal.” (Job 27:11) “I here invoke thy aid to my attempts to teach men of their roots and whence they come. That with no middle flight intends to soar Above the Aeonian mount, while it pursues Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme. What in me is dark, Illuminate; what is low, raise and support; That to the height of this great argument I may assert eternal providence, And justify the ways of God to Israel.”
LET BE UNDERSTOOD FROM THE VERY BEGINNING, that this study is not entirely my own efforts, but also include parts of many other Biblical Scholars; not the least of which is S.D. Baldwin, from which much is taken from his book “Armageddon,” Published by Cincinnati: Applegatte & Company, Nashville: Methodist Publishing House, Stevenson & Owen, 1854.
We must lay down the following as our principles of interpreting symbolic prophecy:
1). First: Perfect coincidence of events with prophecy, is infallible proof of the fulfilment of prophecy. It was in accordance with this principle, that Jesus proved himself to be the Messiah.
2). Second: the definition of prophetic symbols is to be found in scripture, or to be determined by fulfilment. Where a symbol has more than one scriptural sense, which is rarely the case, its intended meaning must be determined either by its context or by fulfilment, or by both.